My Trainer’s Body

Should a personal trainer look good? After all, their bodies are their “advertising platform”. Or, one cannot expect non-competitors or trainers above a certain age to look good?

Please note that now I’m talking about bodybuilding and fitness, as these are the types of exercise with a primary purpose of developing spectacular, toned and proportional muscles.

I used to be very tolerant about it in the past. I even wrote an article on this page, in which I explained that it’s not the job of personal trainers to look good. Their job is to make you look good. After all, they are more than just decoration. You probably don’t pick a trainer the way managers pick their secretaries.

Instead, you appreciate their knowledge and skills: they see the details, know the answers, they help and motivate you and stand by you. They are patient, human, have a sense of humor. Those are the traits that make a good trainer, not looks.

Each body is different, so why not give a try? Even if you are a beginner, underweight, overweight or have any other physical difficulties, you can still be a good trainer. Some people even prefer chubby, imperfect trainers. This calms them down and carries a positive message. You wouldn’t want to see uniform specimens everywhere, do you?

So, that was my standpoint in the past. However, for some reason, I also chose a personal trainer with magazine cover looks. And I gradually realized that if you take workout and diet seriously for years, that will clearly visible on your body. If you spend a lot of time among athletic bodies, you will clearly see who takes seriously what they are talking about and make their living of.

Now I believe it would be great to have some minimum requirements. If being a trainer had prestige, and it was less “democratic”.

To me, the musculature of my trainer carried a positive message and reassured me: this is an athlete. He did not just mug up the textbook chapters. His appearance was an embodiment of hard work. Sometimes I even saw him working out, and I can say: I am not the only one he treats mercilessly.

After all, if he really knows what it takes, his method is feasible and livable and he believes in the whole thing, he will demonstrate his method on himself most of all, won’t he?

In the past years I have been mistaken for a trainer several times, because of my muscles. And recently I fell thinking apropos of a photo shoot: how should I look like so that I could actually believe that I am the right person to guide others, stand by them and motivate them. In other words, what it would take for me to start a fitness instructor training. And my conclusion was that I would not be suitable for this in my present condition. I’m just not enough.

Today the demand is so high that more and more people try their luck as personal trainers – many of them with hardly any training behind them. As a friend of mine put it: they are not good enough to be athletes but one step overqualified to be street cleaners. And they keep telling you not to start it on your own, be very careful, you can get injured etc. You are not that smart...

I read and follow several fitness pages and I’m quite shocked how many people in this profession are burned out. They “honestly” confess how they loathe it, how tired they are of it, they are burned out, they cannot stick to their diets etc.

I find this so disillusioning. Whether they paint an optimistic fake picture or they are “honest” – reality is all that matters. The most important trait of a credible trainer is that they love and live what they do and do not make a fuss of it. A trainer shall love hard workout and development, but at the same time they should be modest about it. Bragging is just so unprofessional. Training hard should be the #1 priority. That’s what makes them trainers, not everyday people: being knowledgeable of that world and being in control of their bodies. No excuses, no hype. A trainer is a motivator. And as such, they shall not whine or complain. We hear way too much of that sh*t anywhere else.

They should be pros. And this doesn’t mean they should be ripped 24/7, ready for a competition any time. It just means their bodies should tell the story of the lifestyle they are advocating.

I asked two friends of mine (both go to the gym regularly) about their opinion on this matter.

“I care about the physique of my personal trainer. Not because I want to see something nice but because I can gauge by their physique, whether their method is working or not. Social media is flooded with individuals who just became trainers or influencers because they have lost the chance to compete. The body of my current trainer is an ideal for me, even though he would be too “skinny” for a regular bodybuilder. Still I want to look like him because he trains really hard, does powerful exercises and teaches them to me, too, and he has a sharp, toned and dope-free physique overall.”

“If I know nothing about a trainer, their muscles and the first impression can serve as a starting point: style, friendliness, conscientiousness and fairness. If they have a good reputation, looks don’t matter that much.”

Do gorgeous-looking trainers make you feel pressurized or motivated? (And what does your significant other say about it?)